Nancybird · Autumn 2017

Melbourne based accessories and homewares label Nancybird are celebrating 15 years in business this year!

Founder and Creative Director Emily Wright has spent the past 18 months expanding the company’s network of global makers and collaborators, resulting in a distinctively international new range of homewares produced by artisans in Bolivia, Latvia and India.

Written

Lucy Feagins

From Nancybird’s new season collection: linen/cotton quilt cover and pillowcases, printed digitally with a colourful, pencil-drawn geometric design. Photo – Annette O’Brien. Styling – Paige Anderson on location at Lynda Gardener’s The White Room.

Made from local wool, Nancybird’s House Socks were hand-knitted in Latvia and are super warm! Photo – Annette O’Brien. Styling – Paige Anderson on location at Lynda Gardener’s The White Room.

The block printed bed linen was made in Jaipur, India from organic cotton sateen. Pictured here is the Block Print Diamond Quilt cover and Pillowcase, Block Print Check and Hexagon Pillowcase, and Plain Dyed Coral Pillowcase. Photo – Annette O’Brien. Styling – Paige Anderson on location at Lynda Gardener’s The White Room.

This is Ghanshayam, the block print master from Jaipur, India. Emily was able to visit the printers recently and was blown away by the skill and care of the craftspeople. Photo – courtesy of Nancybird.

One of the blocks used in the Hexagon print, carved by hand in Jaipur. You can see the small holes in the wood, which are made to help stop the wood from cracking. Photo – courtesy of Nancybird.

Writer

Lucy Feagins

22nd of May 2017

Melbourne based Emily Wright of Nancybird started her accessories business in 2002, after studying art and printmaking at RMIT. Fifteen years on, and Nancybird’s range has expanded to include accessories, clothing and homewares stocked in over 150 stores both locally and abroad.

Since we last caught up with Emily and her team, they’ve been actively expanding her network of global makers, to produce homewares that are more diverse than ever before. Last year, they collaborated with an indigenous art studio from the Northern Territory and a group of community weavers in the Philippines, whilst this year they have worked on homewares with Bolivian knitters, Latvian hand knitters and Indian Block printers.

Each and every Nancybird product is designed in-house by textile designer Sarah Strickland and creative director Emily Wright. However, the pair are increasingly inspired by the craftspeople they work with overseas. ‘We began working with our Fair Trade accredited block printers from Jaipur, India last year, and were really inspired by the process of block printing,’ explains Sarah. ‘We wanted to make the most of their incredible skill, and thought that bedlinen was the perfect canvas’. Emily recently visited the block printers in India, and was blown away with the care and attention that goes into all their work.

A key focus for the Nancybird team is to explore age-old techniques that imbue each collection with the hand of the maker. Their Autumn 2017 home collection includes block-printed bedlinen, knitted and crocheted cushions, and hand knitted woollen socks.

To see more visit the Nancybird website, here.